


Family is Synonymous with Pack

by moeexyz



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-03
Updated: 2012-12-03
Packaged: 2017-11-20 03:40:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/580917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moeexyz/pseuds/moeexyz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek and Stiles go on a stakeout on Christmas Eve. Derek considers his lack of family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family is Synonymous with Pack

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Teen Wolf Christmas challenge on Tumblr (http://teenwolf-christmas.tumblr.com/)
> 
> First Teen Wolf fic (also kind of last minute and lame), so I guess constructive criticism is welcome. And thank you for reading :)

“Is this really that important?” Stiles whines.

Derek wants to ignore him, but he tried that an hour ago, and it just made him more annoying. Instead he says “Yes.”

“Because I don't feel like this is important,” Stiles continues.

“Peter said they're here.”

Stiles scoffs. “Oh sure, let's trust Peter. He's never done anything to make us doubt him,” He says sarcastically.

“We're not trusting him. That's why we're here. We're _confirming_.” Derek punctuates with a sigh. Stiles doesn't seem to get that Derek does not want to be here either. He doesn't want to trust Peter. He doesn't want any of this. He'd happily take a betrayal from Peter and an _I told you so_ from Stiles just so he could get rid of all this uncertainty. And so he wouldn't have to sit outside motels for three hours with Stiles getting more bored and more annoying by the second, just to confirm if this is where the alpha pack are staying. That is literally the last thing he wants to be doing right now.

“Okay, that's why _you're_ here. Why am _I_ here?” Stiles complains. He knows the answer. He just wants to talk for the sake of talking. 

“They don't hurt humans,” Derek tells him anyway. 

“You could have asked Lydia.”

“Lydia's busy.”

“Maybe I'm busy.”

“Obviously.”

Stiles sighs. “Scott and I have plans you know. Important plans. I should be making cookies for those plans right now, not sitting here.”

“I'll buy you cookies after if you _shut up,”_ Derek whines.

“You can't buy cookies. I have to make them. They're a special recipe. They're special Stilinski Christmas cookies, you don't just _buy_ them.”

Derek frowns. “Christmas cookies?”

Stiles looks at him like he's insane. “Dude, do you not know what day it is?”

“It's Christmas Eve, Stiles. Don't be ridiculous,” Derek says.

“Did you know that before I said Christmas cookie?”

“Yes,” Derek lies. It's not his fault. He doesn't keep track of these things. He hasn't since the fire. Laura tried to do Christmas once. It was okay, but the tree was small and fake so it would fit in their crappy New York apartment, and it just didn't feel right without the rest of his siblings laughing in the background and his mom's delicious roast potatoes.

Stiles seems to sense Derek's mood shift because he finally quietens down. The atmosphere in the jeep gets a lot more awkward. Stiles' fingers dance on his knee, fidgety. Derek tries to focus on the empty motel room, that no alpha has returned to yet.

“Did you--” Stiles starts, but cuts himself off.

They fall into silence again. Derek doesn't want to ask. He knows whatever Stiles was going to say isn't something he wants to talk about. He can feel it in the nervous way Stiles' heart is beating. He doesn't want to talk about it. He doesn't want Stiles' pity.

However, the quiet is worse, so he asks Stiles “What?”

Stiles hesitates. “Any traditions?”

Yes. His mom let the little ones decorate the cookies. Laura usually helped with the dinner. Derek and his dad finished wrapping the last of the presents. Derek was terrible at it. Everyone could always tell which ones were the ones he did. Laura used to tell their younger siblings that the new inexperienced elves did all of those. His aunt always let him and Laura sneak some champagne during dinner. Peter would always get drunk and insist that they all sing carols. (Derek wonders if Peter's thinking about this too, back at the decrepit remains of their family home.) They took turns each year putting the star at the top of the tree. This year would be his little brother's turn.

But his little brother isn't here. None of them are. There are no traditions without family, so Derek tells Stiles a simple “no.”

Stiles nods. If he thinks Derek is lying, he doesn't say. His fingers continue to dance on his knee. _Tap tap tap tap._

“My dad always has to work late today.” Stiles says. “I think I've spent three Christmas Eve's with him, that I can remember.”

Derek turns to look at him, but Stiles is staring at the motel.

“It's Scott and me, usually. His mom buys casserole before she goes to work, and I make cookies, and we stay up late watching Christmas movies. And then on Christmas day our parents come home and the four of us eat whatever's left over. Which is usually the casserole, because Scott eats all the cookies.”

Stiles doesn't say where his mom fit into all of this, which Derek thinks is fair considering he didn't give him anything about his own family. Or maybe Stiles doesn't want to talk about it just like him. Maybe Stiles has his own forgotten traditions that don't feel like traditions without his family. 

But he and Scott have their own traditions. They are their own little family. They're their own pack too, Scott's made that extremely clear. 

“You can go if you'd like,” Derek says.

Stiles turns to look at him, surprised.

“We can do this another day,” Derek continues.

Stiles looks kind of speechless for a second. He manages to shake himself out of it. “Um, Isaac's coming over for Christmas celebrations today. Scott invited him. We have a lot of food so...”

Derek nods. That seems fair. This is Isaac's first Christmas alone. Derek remembers how rough it is. And it's not like he has anything particularly joyful or Christmasy planned for Isaac.

“And our parents aren't going to be back until tomorrow morning.”

“Stiles, I'm not going to stop him, if that's what you're expecting.”

“No, I'm trying to … y'know … we have a _lot_ of food.”

“Okay.”

“Enough for at least _three_ werewolves, and a human. And maybe two human parents in the morning. I don't think any of us ever got the hang of cooking Christmas dinner for small families.”

This time it's Derek's turn to look surprised.

“Stilinski Christmas cookies are really good. I always put extra cinnamon.”

Derek doesn't want to go. He doesn't want to impose on their teenage island of misfit toys, he doesn't want to feel awkward sitting in Stiles' home and eating casserole and cookies, he doesn't want to celebrate Christmas without his family because all it does is remind him that he is without his family. But he doesn't want to go home and avoid Peter. Being miserable alone is a lot worse than being miserable around his pack.

Plus his mom always put extra cinnamon into her cookies too. Derek can't really resist.

He nods and says “I'm leave before your dad gets home.”

Stiles smiles. “I wouldn't have it any other way,” He says, starting up the jeep and driving home.

- 

Scott doesn't say anything about Derek being there, which Derek is thankful for because he feels awkward enough. He stands around the kitchen, hovering while Stiles bakes. Isaac seems a lot more relaxed when he's talking to Scott, Derek doesn't really want to intrude.

Stiles forces him to help with the cookies, which is the most ridiculous situation Derek's ever been in. He's kind of afraid he's going to screw them up and ruin the whole thing for everybody, but Stiles doesn't seem too concerned about it.

Scott and Isaac join them eventually. They talk werewolf stuff. That relaxes Derek. This he can do. This is easy.

They eat the casserole Scott's mom bought. Stiles was right. She bought one that could feed a family of eight at least. They talk about lacrosse, and school, and the alpha pack, and what everyone else in the pack is doing for Christmas, and what training they should all do, and how heavenly Stilinski Christmas cookies taste.

After they eat they all move to the couch and Stiles puts _Elf_ on because at dinner it somehow came up that Derek has not seen it. Derek sits on the couch next to Stiles, nibbling on a cookie that he suspects comes from the same recipe his mom used to use.

Isaac and Scott are laughing about something on the other end of the couch. Stiles is inhaling four cookies at once, and Derek can't help but feel content.

“Thanks,” He mutters to Stiles.

Stiles shrugs. “Christmas is a family thing. Family is sort of synonymous with pack. Made sense,” He says with his mouth half full. “We all kind of need it anyway.”

Derek just nods. Maybe he smiles a little too.


End file.
